Zac Brown Band’s John Driskell Hopkins Battles ALS With Strength, Courage & Hope For A Cure

Three-time GRAMMY winner John Driskell Hopkins, who friends and family call “Hop,” is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He’s also a founding member of the Zac Brown Band. The close-knit Georgia-based group has been together a long time.

“I’ve been in the band 20 years, and we all come from Atlanta,” he says. “We were grown when we started playing together but have continued to grow together over the past two decades and we are certainly family.”

That sense of family has shined through as Hop battles ALS, an incurable, progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. (ALS is also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease after the famous major league baseball player who died from it in 1941.)

Hop continues touring with Zac Brown, writing songs, playing multiple instruments, and singing harmony, but has slowed down some, as he works to keep pace with his changing body.

About five years ago, he began noticing small signs that something was “off” physically.

“The first thing I noticed was my strum in 2019,” he recalls. “But it took two-and-a-half years to figure out what was going on.”

Doctors eventually got the answer and delivered the news to Hop and his wife on December 22, 2021.

“My wife started crying,” Hop recalls. “And I didn’t know much about ALS, but I knew it was bad. The doctor said ALS is a two-to-five-year diagnosis before you’re gone.”

He immediately began thinking about what it would mean for his young daughters.

“I spent the night trying to figure out what to say to the girls and how to plan for wrapping up the next 30 years in a moment. I started thinking, if I’m going to die in two years, what do my daughters need to hear from me? The only thing I could come up with that sums it all up was ‘I Love You Forever.’

The phrase would evolve into a song.

“It started slowly with those few words and turned into a forecasting of fatherly wisdom,” he says. “Hopefully it’s a message that will transcend my passing.”

Since learning he has ALS, Hop has focused on continuing to create music, spending time with family, and forming an organization to raise money for ALS research. His family and fellow Zac Brown Band members have rallied behind him.

His wife, Jennifer, co-founded “Hop For A Cure,” and his brother, David Hopkins, left his theater teaching job to run it.

In a little over three years, “Hop For A Cure” has raised enough money to grant over 4.1 million dollars in ALS research grants. Hop’s brother says the race is on to learn so much more about a disease that remains such a mystery.

“We are raising as much money as we can, as quickly as we can, because research for ALS is underfunded,” says David Hopkins. “The reality is nobody really understands this disease. They don’t realize people lose their motor neurons and become ‘locked in.’ The brain stops transmitting to the muscles, so people with ALS lose their ability to move, eat, speak, and ultimately breathe.”

And yet, it has no effect on cognitive skills. Those who eventually feel their body shutting down around them remain mentally sharp throughout the progression of the disease.

Recently, researchers have discovered 10-percent of ALS cases may be familial (have a genetic tie), but there is no clear reason for the other 90-percent of cases diagnosed. Hop’s case falls into that broader category.

The Recording Academy has been following Hop’s journey for a segment in their video series Family Matters. Hop, his wife and brother, members of Zac Brown Band, and others were featured. It looks at the early days of the band, its evolving success, Hop’s many contributions, then some of the changes in music, and in life, as his ALS has progressed. It’s honest, emotional, but also has bits of humor – offering a little levity as everyone deals with the heavy challenges of Hop’s disease.

While there’s no set date yet for when the Family Matters episode will be made available to the public, the Recording Academy held a special screening in Nashville last week to coincide with ALS Awareness Month.

Many who appear in the film were on hand for a panel discussion afterward.

ALS affects everyone differently and Hop is grateful his progression has been slow.

“I’m lucky,” he admits. “I’m not in a wheelchair yet, but I do use a cane. I have no atrophy and my fingers all work. My voice is slowing, my range is slowing, and my breath control is suffering.

Here he stops, smiles, then adds, “But I’m still singing it, so I’m still bringing it.”

He’s also continuing to write songs. He sees music as a big part of his legacy.

“So many people have fond memories of those that have passed and those that have taught them things or influenced them in some way. But hopefully, my music will live forever. Even after the lessons have been taught, the feelings shared, and the life spent, the music continues to be played.”

His song for his daughters is one small part of that. He hopes it will not only comfort them in the years ahead but also touch the hearts of others.

“I want it to be as meaningful to everyone as it is to us. I feel like we don’t say it enough.”

Hop says when they first got the diagnosis, he and his wife considered the possibility of pulling out of the spotlight and retiring, concerned at how difficult it might be for his daughters to have their family’s difficult journey made public. But he says he wants them to know that whatever happens, he fought ALS to the end.

“I want them to know we’ve done everything we can and the only way to fix this is to use the platform we’ve been given to make our own impact and raise money for research to fix it. The only way any of us get out of this is finding a way to heal motor neurons. And when we do, we’ll find a way to beat ALS, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and several others that fall into that motor neuron category.”

To learn more about ALS and how you can help through his foundation, visit https://www.hoponacure.org/